In the presence of the Italian minister for territorial cohesion Fabrizio Barca, the mayor of L'Aquila Massimo Cialente, and the Austrian ambassador Christian Berlakovits, the cooperation contract for reconstruction of portions of historic city centers in the province of L' Aquila was signed by the dean Renate Hammer. After the contract had been signed Hammer handed over the planning book to the city of L'Aquila. It summarizes all of those concepts, plans and strategies that were developed by the department of construction and environment at Danube University Krems during the last few years, under the supervision and based on the relevant experience of the well known Italian architect Prof. Roberto Pirzio Biroli, with contributions from the local population.

The province of L’Aquila in the Abruzzo region was struck by a severe earthquake in April 2009, which damaged about 10,000 buildings; some of these were severely damaged. A large number of buildings are still not fully restored. At the university course for renovation and revitalization under Dr. Christian Hanus, researchers and students visited the region in 2010 and 2011 and started to restore the original condition of the destroyed old buildings. A subsequent international call for tenders which was won by Danube University Krems made it possible to work out detailed reconstruction plans for the historic district of Paganica, a suburb of the city of L'Aquila, which can now be implemented as part of the cooperation contract. Danube University Krems will serve as a scientific guide and supervisor for the project.